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October 28, 2013

Ortiz Talks; Red Sox Listen, Rally, And Win

It was the fifth inning of Game 4. The score was tied 1-1 and the Red Sox had managed only two hits off Cardinals starter Lance Lynn. David Ortiz looked around the dugout and didn't like what he saw. So, as he did when Boston trailed in the 2007 ALCS, he spokefromtheheartto his teammates about the situation.

Ortiz:

I know we have a better offensive team than what we have showed. You put pressure on yourself and try to overdo things and it doesn't work that way. We know the Cardinals have a very good pitching staff but we have faced good pitching before. Like I told my teammates, if you think you're going to come to the World Series every year, you're wrong. Especially playing in the AL East. You know how many people we beat to get to this level, this stage? A lot of good teams. A lot of good teams. It took me five years to get back on this stage. We've had better teams than we have right now and we never made it. So take advantage of being here. I don't have another 10 years in me. I don't know when I'm going to be in the World Series. I have to give everything I have right now.

David Ross:

Inspirational. He talked and we listened.

Jonny Gomes:

It was like 24 kindergartners looking up at their teacher. He got everyone's attention.

John Farrell:

It was meaningful. He's one of the guys that people look up to. Our guys look up to him. Kind of a timely conversation he had with everybody.

Quintin Berry:

He's got so much history and clout, to be here trying to fight for you, you want to fight for him. He was yelling and screaming. It's a good thing to have that guy leading the charge.

Daniel Nava:

We weren't the Red Sox. We were the Boston Ortizes. ... My reaction? That I don't want to let David Ortiz down.

Torey Lovullo:

It was powerful. I wasn't exactly sure what he was going to say. It's something we were all feeling. It's something that we all sensed going on. If the wrong person says it the wrong way, the message doesn't come across. David doesn't say things like that very often, but when he does it stops you in your tracks.

Nava:

When we scored those runs, it's the World Series, you're obviously pumped and excited, but for it to be right after he gave us that pep talk you're just like, No way. We just went out and scored 5,000 runs for David Ortiz.

Ortiz:

I've got two rings! You want to win one? You follow me!

Ortiz may be on his way to being named World Series MVP. He went 3-for-3 in Game 4 and is 8-for-11 in the series. He's the second-fastest player to reach eight hits in a World Series (Billy Hatcher was 8-for-his-first-9 for the 1990 Reds).

We hear a lot from the media about supposedly inspirational talks. This coach or that manager gave a clubhouse talk, and suddenly everyone could hit again. I often dismiss it, as it usually sounds to me like the media finding reasons for events, after the fact.

Rarely do you actually hear from the players themselves that someone's talk inspired them - and so many players, all attesting to feeling the same way! This is something pretty rare for fans to hear.

I fully believe that the Red Sox will win this World Series. But win or lose, we want to know they gave their all, that they were totally focused, that they tried their absolute best.

Also, during the ESPN radio broadcast last night, the announcers were talking a lot about Ortiz's dugout huddle... but obviously I couldn't see it. So it's great to see the snip. It also reminds me to go watch the archived game, to see this, and to see the pickoff (which I heard Fox missed).